OVERVIEW

Innisfree Hotels is a hotel company delivering exceptional service, guest satisfaction and return on investment since 1985. We embrace our motto of ‘creating fun, memorable experiences,’ while cultivating innovation and excellence in everything we do.

Innisfree strives to foster a workplace that promotes a culture of responsibility and service to humanity. We work to create opportunities for our employees and associates to participate in the creation of a more civil society, placing great value on creativity, collaboration and new ideas. At Innisfree, we’re passionate about consistently delivering long-term financial benefits to owners, while fostering a vibrant and caring work environment for our people.

Our drive to be a model corporate citizen inspires us to outperform our competitors by engaging in innovative problem-solving that improves the way we serve our customers, treat our employees and conduct our day-to-day business. Our culture resonates from our corporate office to every property, resulting in great experiences for every guest.

You may wonder how we came to be called Innisfree. Our business takes its name from the famous ode to a peaceful moment at water’s edge in the William Butler Yeats poem, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree.” Galvanized by our namesake, we operate on the principle that every guest deserves a memorable and peaceful experience equal to the one that inspired Yeats.

For more than three decades, we’ve expertly managed dozens of hotels in partnership with many of the world’s most recognized hotel brands. Innisfree has owned and operated both full and limited service properties throughout the United States.

Our unique strategies for augmenting hotel revenues have established us as an industry leader in maximizing profitability. Our ability to deliver results stems from an experienced executive team with a powerful combination of hotel management, marketing and property development expertise.

We provide expert management at every stage of a hotel’s life cycle – from initial concept, financing and construction to day-to-day operations. We can leverage this expertise to offer complete property management and development solutions for business owners, asset managers and special servicing groups.

Innisfree Hotels has a proven track record of designing projects to meet market demand and completing these projects on time and under budget. We have developed more than $300 million in successful projects including resorts, hotels, motels, retail centers, RV resorts and condominiums.

Holiday Inn Resort, Fort Walton Beach, FL is an Innisfree development and winner of InterContinental Hotels Group’s 2014 Development of the Year Award. It has 152 rooms and 2,500 square feet of meeting space. It offers the best pool on the beach with a 250-foot seasonally heated lazy river and cascading waterfall, family suites, private beachfront balconies, supervised children’s activities, ‘Dive-Inn’ movies, interactive pirate and mermaid shows, 24-hour beach view fitness center and 24-hour business center and Riptides Sports Grill and Beachfront Tiki Bar.

Holiday Inn Resort, Fort Walton Beach, FL is an Innisfree development and winner of InterContinental Hotels Group’s 2014 Development of the Year Award. It has 152 rooms and 2,500 square feet of meeting space. It offers the best pool on the beach with a 250-foot seasonally heated lazy river and cascading waterfall, family suites, private beachfront balconies, supervised children’s activities, ‘Dive-Inn’ movies, interactive pirate and mermaid shows, 24-hour beach view fitness center and 24-hour business center and Riptides Sports Grill and Beachfront Tiki Bar.

Innisfree developed the Hyatt Place Hotel, Pensacola FL. This 127-room hotel and meeting space is connected to the Pensacola International Airport terminal. It offers travelers an innovative level of service and modern conveniences such as healthy food, Starbucks coffee, a state-of-the-art fitness center, indoor lap pool and business services.

Innisfree developed the Hyatt Place Hotel, Pensacola FL. This 127-room hotel and meeting space is connected to the Pensacola International Airport terminal. It offers travelers an innovative level of service and modern conveniences such as healthy food, Starbucks coffee, a state-of-the-art fitness center, indoor lap pool and business services.

West Bay Beach, Holiday Inn Resort is the only full-service waterfront resort located in beautiful downtown Traverse City, MI. It has 179 newly renovated rooms and 5,800 square feet of meeting space. It offers indoor and outdoor pools, a sauna and a whirlpool, kid’s club and game room, 24-hour airport shuttle, fitness center and business center. Enjoy onsite dining at the Bistro and Dayclub, then dance the night away at View Nightclub.

West Bay Beach, Holiday Inn Resort is the only full-service waterfront resort located in beautiful downtown Traverse City, MI. It has 179 newly renovated rooms and 5,800 square feet of meeting space. It offers indoor and outdoor pools, a sauna and a whirlpool, kid’s club and game room, 24-hour airport shuttle, fitness center and business center. Enjoy onsite dining at the Bistro and Dayclub, then dance the night away at View Nightclub.

Hilton Garden Inn, Pascagoula, MS is Pascagoula’s first full-service major brand hotel. It is located on the former site of the La Font Inn Hotel. This five story, 10-acre property offers business travelers modern accommodations and meeting space conveniently located close to major industries and businesses on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast.

Hilton Garden Inn, Pascagoula, MS is Pascagoula’s first full-service major brand hotel. It is located on the former site of the La Font Inn Hotel. This five story, 10-acre property offers business travelers modern accommodations and meeting space conveniently located close to major industries and businesses on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast.

Julian’s hospitality career began five decades ago with a summer job as a busboy at a resort in Destin, Florida. He founded Innisfree Hotels in 1985, leaving a position as the Executive Vice President of Family Inns of America for the uncertainty of entrepreneurship.

Since then, his company has grown from a single-property operation to one of the largest hotel management companies in the Southern United States, with more than 2,000 rooms owned and managed and more than 1,000 employees.

A charismatic leader, he inspires loyalty in his team and a company-wide commitment to outstanding customer service and hospitality. His vision, tenacity and ability to build alliances have resulted in many growth opportunities. Much of Innisfree’s success can be attributed to Julian’s mandate of fostering a workplace culture that celebrates creativity, dignity and principled corporate citizenship. Under his guidance, Innisfree adopted a ‘Triple Bottom Line’ business model – implementing an expanded spectrum of criteria for measuring success which values communities, sustainability and profit in equal measure.

Julian has been married to Kim MacQueen for nearly four decades and has two children, Skye and Jonathan, and two grandchildren. He’s a pilot, a graduate of the University of South Alabama with a B.S. in Psychology and an ardent Crimson Tide fan.

Michael Nixon

President

Michael’s experience with most major hotel franchises and types of hotel properties gives him a unique broad-based perspective of the hospitality business. He joined Innisfree in 1994 as General Manager of the Beachside Resort, Pensacola Beach and was quickly promoted to Regional Director of Operations, then to Vice President of Hotel Operations and most recently to President of Innisfree Hotels.

Michael has more than 25 years of hospitality experience working with both resort and interstate properties. His expertise includes acquisitions, budget preparation, renovation oversight, capital improvement and sales and marketing. He has an excellent track record in establishing new hotels and turning around troubled operations. He is a court-appointed receiver for several properties.

His winning personality makes him a respected leader. He brings a positive influence, leading with good humor, while inspiring the best from his team.

He has an undergraduate degree from Florida State University, is a Certified Hospitality Administrator and holds several General Manager certifications. He has performed guest lectures at the University of West Florida on the topics of Hospitality Marketing and Revenue Management, and he was also a guest speaker for the Florida Division of Emergency Management. He was a contributing author to AAOA Lodging Magazine, serves on the Board of Directors of the Pensacola Beach Chamber of Commerce and has served as President and Board Member of the Pensacola Area Lodging Association.

Brooks Moore

Chief Financial Officer

Brooks joined the Innisfree team in 2011, bringing with him an extensive background in corporate and commercial real estate financing. He began his professional career in 1998 with Zions Bank’s National Real Estate Group, where he was the top commercial real estate (CRE) underwriter by loan volume. He was subsequently promoted to Director of Business Development for Texas and Oklahoma.

Brooks also worked as a publishing securities analyst in the investment banking firm Friedman Billings Ramsey, where he covered high yield bonds and entertainment/leisure equities.

He served as Vice Chairman on the Board of Directors and Senior Credit Committee of Capital Certified Development Company, which is the largest packager/servicer of SBA504 loans in the state of Texas. He is a strategic adviser to Dallas-based Lincoln Capital Group, a commercial real estate bridge lender, and a co-founder of Orange Octopus, a turnkey export solutions provider.

Brooks has a B.S. in Finance from the University of Utah and an MBA in finance and corporate accounting from the University of Rochester.

Jill Thomas

Chief Marketing Officer

Jill is the Chief Marketing Office for Innisfree Hotels. She leads Bee Loud Digital Marketing Agency, Innisfree’s in-house marketing department.Jill has many years of marketing experience and was a partner in several digital marketing start-ups. She started her career in television and radio production, working as a broadcast journalist and producer on several national Canadian television shows. She then spent a decade working with non-profit organizations in the areas of strategic planning, organizational development, fundraising and communications.

In 1999, she traded in her urban career and bought the Tree House Cafe on Salt Spring Island in British Columbia. She transformed the business into a thriving live music venue, increasing sales by over 600%. She also owned Rock Salt Restaurant and Cafe on Salt Spring Island for more than a decade. This successful enterprise was named one of the best places to eat in Canada by ‘Where to Eat’.

Jill spent several years on the Board of Directors for the BC Culinary Tourism Society and the British Columbia Food Services and Restaurant Association. She was on the organizing committee for the 2010 Canadian Chef Congress, on a Marketing Oversight Committee for Visit Pensacola and is a member of IMPACT 100 Pensacola.

Jill has an undergraduate degree in Social Science from the University of Western Ontario, a diploma in Broadcast Journalism from Ryerson University and a Master’s of Environmental Studies from York University.

He worked as manager with two commercial real estate development companies prior to joining Innisfree in 2008. Since then, his development team has successfully constructed several major branded hotels and a destination restaurant.

Rich served in the U.S. Army as an Army Aviator for 11 years after graduating from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point in 1989. He then went on to earn an MBA from the Wharton School of Business.

Ron Ellington

Executive Director

As the Executive Director of Strategic Planning, Ron leads corporate strategic planning and governmental affairs for Innisfree Hotels. He has more than 20 years of CEO and COO experience with public and private companies in sales and service, health care, manufacturing and investment banking.

Ron’s experience includes start-up companies and turnarounds. He has founded or co-founded four companies, and has been involved in capital formation, mergers, acquisitions and business integration. He has designed and executed strategic sales and marketing programs, as well as corporate strategic plans.

Ron has undergraduate and graduate degrees in journalism from the University of Georgia.

Gwen Vickers

Regional Director of Operations

Gwen has more than three decades of hospitality experience. She joined Innisfree in 1989 and held the positions of General Manager, Director of Purchasing and Director of Sales before accepting her current position as Regional Director of Operations.

Gwen has experience managing hotel openings, renovations, takeovers and post-sale closings. She has specialized expertise in the construction, opening and management of RV Parks.

Gwen has a proven history of substantially increasing profitability by implementing tight controls and lowering costs, while using yield management strategies to increase Average Daily Rates and occupancy. She works closely with property managers to maximize efficiency and ease of day-to-day operations.

She is a Certified Hotel Administrator and has attended training sessions for Vantage Hospitality, Days Inn, Best Western International, Choice Hotels International and Holiday Inn Express. Gwen is also a member-at-large of the American Business Women’s Association and National Association of Professional Women, a member of the National Recreation & Park Association and a member of The Hospitality Industry Network.

Jason Nicholson

Regional Director of Operations

Jason joined Innisfree in 1996 as a General Manager, swiftly climbing the ranks to assume his current position as Regional Director of Operations in 2012.

His superb command of revenue management strategies and keen eye for detail have brought significant gains for the numerous hotels which he has helmed as General Manager.While he was the General Manager at the Hilton Garden Inn in Orange Beach, AL, the property was ranked No. 1 for service delivery among 500 of the brand’s hotels.

An innovative thinker, Jason has guided hotels through rebrands and rebuilds while maintaining operations and exceeding expected outcomes. He oversaw brand renovations for the Holiday Inn Express in Orange Beach, AL in 2004 and 2009, as well as hurricane rebuilds in 2004 and 2005, increasing the gross room revenue by 100% within two years of Innisfree’s purchase of the hotel.

Jason also preserved outstanding bottom line profits during the hurricane impacts of 2004 and 2005, U.S. recession of 2008 and the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010.

Jason has served for many years on the Board of Directors for Visit Pensacola Beach. In 2015, he was appointed to the Visit Pensacola Board of Directors.

Gabe DiCianni

Regional Director of Operations

Gabe assumed his current role of Regional Director in 2012, continuing a successful career at Innisfree Hotels. He joined the company in 1999 as a night auditor and front desk clerk at Beachside Resort, Pensacola Beach, FL. After completing his degree from the University of West Florida, he was promoted to the position of General Manager at the Days Inn in Orange Beach, AL.

Gabe’s unique talents include his steadfast ability to calm the troops and get the job done.Equally competent in a hard-hat overseeing construction of a hotel project or leading a sales team to outstanding results, his focus and resolve inspire others.

In 2004, he became the General Manager at the Hilton Garden Inn in Orange Beach, AL, and was tasked with reopening the hotel after the devastating Hurricane Ivan hit the Gulf Coast. During the first full year of operation, the hotel’s gross revenue increased by 41% and the property was awarded the ‘Highest Increase in Customer Loyalty’ award.

In the winter of 2010,Gabe became the opening General Manager of the Hampton Inn & Suites in Orange Beach, AL. Under his direction, the sales team booked $1.1 million in group sales during construction and achieved an occupancy rate of 99% within 60 days of opening.

George Coolbaugh

Regional Director of Operations

George joined Innisfree in 1995 and served as General Manager at various hotels in our portfolio before assuming her current position as Regional Director of Operations in 2013.

George possesses a wide range of skills including marketing, contract negotiations, construction management, human resources management and recruitment. She has experience leading a hotel through the process from concept to construction to opening day. She managed the opening team at the innovative beachfront dining spot Red Fish Blue Fish on Pensacola Beach, Florida and oversees Innisfree’s spas and retail operations in addition to her hotel responsibilities.

George has a creative ability to come up with inventive solutions. Thinking outside the box and identifying opportunities for growth and revenue generation are her hallmarks. She is a top producing sales person with advanced abilities in financial management who has overseen the renovation and sale of hotel properties.